Paris continued

Since the last time I've posted, I've had several interesting and scary experiences...

Right after my last post, I went out with Katie to see the Eiffel Tower.  We left around 11:30 and took the metro to a couple of different stations because we had to switch lines.  And then we had to take the RER which is a train that can take you out of Paris.  We were nervous to use this train because it's very different from the metro as well as the station setup.  But we managed to find the right platform and get on the right train.  Unfortunately, right as we got off the train at our stop, a man's voice came on over the intercom and told us that the train we had just gotten off of was the last one that was going to run that night.  Basically, I freaked out because the trains and metro are my main way of getting around Paris and now I couldn't use them.  Not only that, we were really far from our hotel and neither of us had a good map of Paris with us.  We only had this booklet that zoomed in on different sections of Paris and didn't show the whole layout of the city.  So I had no idea how we were going to get back to our hotel, which scared me because no one knew we were out and we were basically going to have to figure it all out on our own...at night.  Great.  Thank God Katie knew how to get to the Opera which she said was close to our hotel, so we started heading toward there.  And after walking for about 15-20 minutes, we found a metro station that was open!  Turns out that the RER trains closes early but the metro stations didn't close till 2:00 that night because it was Friday.  So we got back at like 2:00.  Ugh, it's been a long time since I've felt that worried.  So glad we found our way back.

The next day, Katie, Michele, Monika, Elizabeth, and I all went to a market at Porte de Vanves.  There were lots of vendors selling books, pictures, jewelry, glassware, fabric, and other things.  I bought two pictures, a necklace, and a notebook.  Then we ate lunch, and Elizabeth and I did some shopping at the Longchamp store.  Then we walked across La Place de la Concorde and then on the Boulevard Saint-Germain de Pres.  It was a really nice day and a great walk, and we found a lot of different stores.  There's was some really great shopping there.  After looking around for a bit, we went back to the hotel, and at 7:30 I went out to dinner with Dr. Morgan, Ewurabena, and Lubaina.  We went to a restaurant called Pierrot and it was so good!  I had a kir for an aperatif, a carpaccio of beef with arugula and parmesan cheese with lemon juice, duck with potatoes and green beans, and then creme brulee for dessert.  It was so good!  After dinner, I went out with Roz, Ewurabena, and Lubaina to the Eiffel Tower and was able to enjoy being there that time instead of worrying about how I was going to find my way back to our hotel.

The next day, I went to le Parc de Morceau.  It's a really beautiful little park, and it was really nice walking around such a pretty area observing the surroundings and the people.  It was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip because it wasn't touristy at all, and I got to see the French just doing what they do everyday.  I saw so many cute kids just playing with each other, people walking with their dogs, couples cuddling on benches, and even pony rides for the little French kids.  It was nice to just walk around and sit for a while and just relax.  After the park, I met Elizabeth and Michele and we went to the American church in Paris for their contemporary service.  It was really cool, but really different for me because I'm Catholic, and catholic services are much different from contemporary services.  But it was a cool experience.  Elizabeth and I met two girls in the church who were students at Davidson, and it just so happened that Elizabeth and one of the girls, Emily, knew some of the same people.  So that was really crazy that we happened to meet them there and find we had a lot of stuff in common.  They are in France for a semester like us, but they live in dorms in Paris the whole time.  We ate some lunch with them, and hopefully we'll be able to meet up with them again sometime.  After lunch, Elizabeth and I went to the Luxembourg and walked around the palace and the garden area.  We sat there for about 25 minutes and then went back to the hotel to relax.  Then me, Monika, Michele, Michael, Elizabeth, and Katie got some takeout Greek sandwiches and fries and just all hung out in our room eating and talking.  And now I'm going to pack up my stuff because we all return to Versailles tomorrow with our French families.  A bientot!